Joywave

Maybe you are just like John Darnielle: In the depths of the pandemic winter at the end of 2020, the Mountain Goats frontman passed the time trapped at home in North Carolina watching pulpy action movies, finding comfort in familiar tropes and sofabound escapism. But you are not really like John Darnielle, unless the action movies you found comfort in included French thrillers like 2008’s Mesrine, vintage Italian poliziotteschi, or the 1974 Donald Pleasence mad-scientist vehicle The Freakmaker. Or unless watching them brought you back to your formative days as an artist, when watching films fueled and soundtracked your songwriting jags and bare-bones home recordings and in turn inspired your 20th album to be a song cycle about the allure—and futility—of vengeance. But there’s no shame in not being like John Darnielle; few people are.“On earlier tapes you’ll find these sound samples,” Darnielle says. “‘Oh, where’s this sample from?’ It’s from whatever movie I was watching while I was sitting around on the couch with a guitar. I watch a movie, somebody’d say something that I like the sound of and I’ll write that phrase down. And then I would pause the VHS, write the song, record the song on a boombox, and go back to watching my movie. I got into doing that again; I just kept watching action movies and taking notes on what they’re about and on what the governing plots and tropes and styles are. It was very much like an immersion method acting technique.”The resulting performance is Bleed Out, a cinematic experience unto itself. One song about preparing to exact bloody revenge begat another song about the act of exacting bloody revenge and then more songs about and the causes and the aftermath of being driven to exact bloody revenge, each delivered with the urgency and desperation deserving of their narrators and circumstances.Just as Getting Into Knives and Dark in Here—recorded in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, respectively, in the first two weeks of March 2020, just before such a thing would become impossible—were heavily informed and influenced by their historic settings, Bleed Out is all pent-up energy and explosion, executed by a bunch of friends who were mainly happy to be in a room together making loud noises. In January 2021, just weeks after Darnielle had started writing, his bandmates Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster joined him at a studio in the woods near his home in Chapel Hill. Everything was finished inside a week.“We often make a record and then bring in some guests who flesh out the textures,” Darnielle says. “And for this one, it was very much like a pack mentality. That sort of seemed to proceed from the songs.” One new face was that of Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, recommended to Darnielle by his manager as a producer who could help nurture the rougher-edged sound these songs requested. “We met up and hit it off. She’s a great guitarist. It was kind of just a lark, to see what would happen, and it was totally great.”That abandon is on full display from the opening track, “Training Montage,” which lovingly documents the getting-ready-for-battle scene in any action movie regardless of provenance and loudly declares its intentions: “I’m doing this for revenge.” This and the next song, “Mark on You,” were the first two Darnielle wrote, and they set the tone for everything that follows on Bleed Out.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Emily Scott Robinson + Alisa Amador + Violet Bell

This is a seated show.An evening of special performances from Emily Scott Robinson, Alisa Amador, and Violet Bell. Fans will hear music from each artist individually and the trio will come together to perform songs from Robinson’s latest release with Oh Boy Records, “Built on Bones.”“Built on Bones” is a collection of six original songs for the Witches of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The recordings feature Emily Scott Robinson (writer/composer), Alisa Amador (NPR Tiny Desk Contest Winner 2022) and Lizzy Ross (of duo Violet Bell) as the three witches singing through the tragedy of Macbeth in three-part harmony. Emily Scott Robinson Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Latest Video: “Double Double”Alisa Amador Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Latest Video: “High and Dry” (Radiohead)Violet Bell Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Latest Video: “All the Stars” (Live)

Hammered Hulls

Hammered Hulls’ debut LP ‘Careening’ may very well be the last record to be recorded and mixed at famed Washington, DC area recording studio Inner Ear. Engineered by studio owner Don Zientara and produced by Ian MacKaye, ‘Careening’ was started right before the pandemic lockdown and completed in summer/fall of 2021. A new band of long-time players, Hammered Hulls’ music hews close to some of their early influences. Alec MacKaye is the voice, Mark Cisneros is the guitarist, Mary Timony takes a nimble and rarely-heard turn as bassist, and Chris Wilson commands the drums. Each of them brings their individual imprint to the total sound. This concussion of strength upon strength, unified by vulnerable songs, only barely contained, is the signature sound of Hammered Hulls.Bandcamp | Instagram | Dischord

David Cross

This show is Ages 18+ only.Partially seated – first come first served general admission seating available.Charity Fee: $2 from every ticket will go to support The Innocence Project which works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Our work is guided by science and grounded in antiracism.https://innocenceproject.org/Phone-Free Event: This event will be a phone-free experience. Use of cellphones, smart watches, smart accessories, cameras or recording devices will not be permitted in the performance space. Anyone seen using a cellphone or recording device during the performance will be immediately escorted out of the venue. We appreciate your cooperation in creating a phone-free viewing experience. Please note: this is NOT a Yondr event.Copyright Notice: David Cross owns all rights in the content and materials, including any jokes and sketches (the “Materials”), delivered during his performance. The Materials may not be copied, translated, transmitted, displayed, distributed, or reproduced verbatim (the “Use”), in whole or in part, in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, without the express prior written consent of David Cross. Any Use of the Materials without the express prior written consent of David Cross is strictly prohibited and shall be subject to all available legal remedies, whether in equity or at law at the cost of anyone who violates this prohibition.Emmy Award winner and two-time Grammy Award nominee David Cross is an inventive performer, writer, and producer on stage and screen.In November, Cross taped a comedy special to be released in 2022. He makes guest appearances in the new, critically-acclaimed HBO Max miniseries, Station Eleven, which premiered on December 16, and in the HBO Max film, 8-Bit Christmas, which premiered in November. In March, Cross starred in the National Geographic series, Genius: Aretha, portraying famed music producer, Jerry Wexler opposite Cynthia Erivo as Aretha Franklin.Cross received rave reviews for his starring role in the dramatic film, The Dark Divide. Based on the beloved book, “Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide,” by Robert Pyle, one of America’s premiere nature writers, the film recreates Pyle’s perilous 1995 journey across one of America’s largest undeveloped wildlands.Cross’ last special, Oh Come On, is now available on Amazon Prime and Peacock. The special was originally released on May 10, 2019, simultaneously in a 10-city theatrical run. The Oh, Come On special was filmed in August 2018 at The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC. The album version of Oh, Come On was recorded in November 2018 in Birmingham, AL and is available on iTunes, Spotify, Sirius XM, Google Play and at physical retailers.Cross’ Oh Come On international tour visited theatres in more than 70 cities including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin, Amsterdam and cities across North America.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Quarters of Change

Quarters of Change is the Lower-East-Side quartet leading the charge on New York City’s rock resurgence. Composed of Ben Acker, Attila Anrather, Jasper Harris, and Ben Roter, the band has made waves online (and on the road) with their authentic brand of alternative rock.After receiving co-signs from stars like Joe Jonas, Lewis Capaldi, and Fred Durst — the band made their major label debut in July of 2022, and tapped Mikey Freedom Hart (Bleachers) and Tom Lord-Alge (U2, The Rolling Stones, Blink 182) for finishing touches on what was otherwise a self-produced project.Quarters of Change then embarked on a full North American tour supporting Bad Suns (Epitaph Records), stopping at radio stations and gracing playlist covers along the way, and now prepares for their biggest year yet. Listen to Into The Rift (Deluxe) out now on Elektra Records (Warner Music Group).Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud | TikTok

Theo Katzman

You’ve seen him strut the stage with Vulfpeck at the World’s Greatest Arena. You’ve seen his name in the credits of your favorite artist’s favorite album.You’ve seen footage from his sold-out 2020 tour and thought: is that grown man really singing an A above high C?Well…forget ALL that s**t…and dig this:Life is short. Love is eternal. Theo Katzman has captured his fiercest flame on his new album: Be The Wheel.He brings his staunchly synergistic, sober psychedelic, seeker-sensitive soul service to a HERE near you, at a NOW near then.He aims to pierce your heart.His aim is true.Will you join us?Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

The Residents

This is a seated show.Constantly defying classification, THE RESIDENTS have been regarded as icons in the world of experimental music for almost fifty years. In addition to their groundbreaking work in the areas of trance, world fusion, electronica, punk, industrial and lounge music, the group has also been credited with being among the originators of performance art and music video, with their videos included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Their lengthy career has also taken them into the world of film and television music, having scored numerous films and TV series as well as several projects for MTV. In addition, the group is also thriving in the world of digital media having released ten DVDs, and two internet series.Website | Facebook | Twitter

Runnner

For the last five years, Los Angeles-based musician Noah Weinman has been Runnner, and for much of those five years, Runnner has been working. Working on his 2021 collection album, Always Repeating; working as a producer on the Skullcrusher records; and, of course, working towards his debut full-length, Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out. From LA to Ohio and the Northeast and back, he’s been deep in the craft of sound. This is music made at home, using anything and everything: cell phones and handheld tape recorders, the hum of an a/c unit, voicemails from friends. Rubbing cardboard together, stretching acoustic sounds out to near liquid, or stacking delay pedals at random to scramble the smoothness of a song can make something known into something unknown — something ordinary into something cosmic. These are songs where the edges have been left deliberately rough because perfection invites predictability, and imperfection imbalances, and those imbalances ask the listener to listen again, and again. And in that listening, the sound can become earnest, can ask a question, can hold a conversation.”I was sifting through my demos trying to decide what songs would go on the album, and I sort of started to notice this theme about the limits of language,” explains Weinman. “You’re trying to articulate something to someone, and it either doesn’t come out right or you end up not saying anything at all. It’s a pattern I see in my life, just having a hard time expressing myself to the people I’m close with.” So it’s no surprise that from a young age, Noah was drawn to other modes of expression: first studying trumpet and jazz, then falling into guitars, banjo, pianos and synths, and along with them discovering a love for stitching together songs and recordings. “It wasn’t until I got out of the studio environment and started recording at home that it became something I really love doing,” he says.Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out is the result of years of writing, recording, and tinkering in Weinman’s home, a lovingly crafted patchwork of organic instrumentation and otherworldly digital manipulation. The unexpected sounds and lush production elevate Weinman’s already impressive skill for melody and warm vocals, always pivoting between sparse intimacy and sweeping grandeur at the right moments. “I think I just want to try to make sounds that are a little original, that you couldn’t easily identify,” he explains. “But I get there by keeping my options pretty limited. I only have one input, so I don’t record things in stereo; I only have about three microphones and a few instruments, and I try not to use MIDI. I keep the ingredient list short, but that pushes me to be more creative in the genesis of certain sounds.”This musical approach is reflected in Runnner’s lyrics as well, where the familiar is made unfamiliar, and then familiar again. With humor and heart, Weinman sifts through isolation and anxiety in the everyday: ruining the rice, buying shampoo, the way boredom and loneliness are tangled up together. And from these fragments, he makes something new, but also something already known and felt at once. “A lot of the songs have this narrative arc of rising tension that just leads to me not saying or doing anything,” he says.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud

Built To Spill

Built to Spill is an indie rock band from Boise, ID, formed in 1992 by guitarist/vocalist Doug Martsch.In September 2022 they released their most recent album, through SubPop – “When the Wind Forgets Your Name.” Known as well for its rotating line up, the band currently counts with Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums.Website | Facebook | Twitter

Genre: Concerts